Observation Of Fandom Support In The Idol Industrialized Era

At the beginning of 2018,two phenomenal idol selection variety shows Idol Producer and Produce 101 were jumpstarted,generating great public attention and discussion.Various production platforms are following the trend.The Chinese Youth,All For One,Qing Chun You Ni and Produce 101 Season Ⅱ are gathering momentum and pushing waves of potential ordinary people onto the star-making assembly line.2018 has been titled as "the first year of idol" for this reason.This indicates that China has entered a new era of idol industry after the national talent show of Super Girls 15 years ago.Fan economy is the foundation of idol industry.In the age when the fan economy is not mature,it is difficult for idols to transform their popularity into resources.With the invasion of Japanese and Korean pop culture,a set of practical operations were transplanted to China.Along with the development of Internet and entertainment industry,a new fan community was created,including exclusive terms,thinking mode,and constantly corrected behavior norms.A series of highly rigorous and standardized operating procedures such as voting,activity support,data collecting,peripheral products sales lead to the integration of scattered individuals,which becomes an indispensable part of idol industry.Since activity support has been one of the important methods for fans to worship idols,relevant culture constantly develops with increasingly various form and types.Behind these investment reflects the huge volume of fan economy.The following derivative occupations have gradually formed a set of increasingly perfect industry chain.This reflects that the fans’ pursuit of stars is incorporated into the commercial psychology.In addition,the guidance of the entire fans’ economic system makes the idol respond to the development of culture in the industrialization era,and the fans’economy becomes an indispensable important supporting force.Through in-depth interviews and participatory observation,this paper shows the role of the fan economy in the culture of assistance,and explores the external forms and internal power of fan economy in the culture of activity support.The first part is to show the different types of activity support such as voting,data collecting.The second part describes the way in which fan community raises funds to support idols and shows the conflicts and cooperation between individuals and fan clubs,within the clubs and between the clubs caused by the financial problems.In the third part,the author explores the reasons behind the derivative careers,such as professional fans and ticket scalpers.